Correlations between Organic and Conventional Management, on-Field Biodiversity and Landscape Diversity, in Olive Groves in Apulia (Italy)

Abstract

Intensified land use is one of the main cause of global change and biodiversity loss. Destruction and fragmentation of habitats and landscape are major factors in the global decline of populations and species and dealing with all of this changes is one the greatest challenges to conserve biological diversity.1 Under the current scenario of rapid growth of human population, to achieve efficient agroecosystems in order to produce enough food while conserving biodiversity is a global challenge.2 Conventional agriculture prioritizes high yields and does little to harmoniously interact with and preserve its immediate environment and therefore, current agricultural practices are regarded as one of the most significant drivers of biodiversity loss and different ecological health problems;3 On the other hand, low-intensity land-use systems may be important elements of large-scale conservation programs4 and agriculture can contribute to the conservation of high-diversity systems, which may provide important ecosystem services such as pollination and biological control;5 for instance, one of the claims recently proposed by different studies is that organic agriculture is beneficial to nature protection and biodiversity conservation.3 Actually intensive farming happens at two spatial scales, the landscape scale of agricultural intensification adds to the local effects of intensified farming practices;5 so landscape and agriculture biodiversity are connected in various points.